Drawers coming open

[DHenry]

What do you do to keep the drawers from coming open while traveling? The garbage drawer comes open every time we move, and the bottom drawer by the stove opens occasionally. I have put a bunge on them but really do not think that I should have to go to that. Have you changed the latches? What type latch do you recommend?

[CountryGuy]

One solution is to add EXTRA latches, we now have 3 on that garbage door, I doubt it will ever come open again! Course, it is a bit harder to get open to put the garbage in, but life is a compromise.

[sreigle]

DHenry, assuming there's nothing unusually heavy pushing the doors open, try adjusting the latches. I found on ours the male part has to be exactly aligned with the female part. I guess both sides of the female are spring loaded to hold against the male and if it's not properly aligned you don't get full holding power.

The only doors we have trouble with now are those below the tv and that's because of some heavy items in there. So, we use a strap to hold those doors from opening. No problem at all with the trash door.

[Montana_621]

Nice picture!

quote:Originally posted by CountryGuy

One solution is to add EXTRA latches, we now have 3 on that garbage door, I doubt it will ever come open again! Course, it is a bit harder to get open to put the garbage in, but life is a compromise.

[CountryGuy]

Thanks Melissa,

Al has not seen it yet, I am surprising him with it, and as long as it took for me to figure it all out, it truly is a surprise!

Carol

[Jetson]

Several of my latches were too weak to hold or they had been bent from misalignment. I gave up messing with them and started replacing them. The new latches I have installed have much better grip and none of the new ones have come open.

[DHenry]

Jetson, what type of latches did you get and where did you get them?

[Jetson]

I first tried latches similar to the original from Home Depot, but they left the drawers sticking out 1/16th of an inch when they were closed. Those held fine however.

I then tried a different style latch with a metal U-shaped catch attached to the drawer and 2 nylon barrel shaped posts attached to the cabinet. I got the last ones from a hardware store that has some RV supplies.

You need to make sure that the catch that attaches to the cabinet has screw holes that will allow it to be mounted so it does not stick out farther than the face of the cabinet.

[DHenry]

Thanks Jetson, I will try the catches you described.

[gloriad]

I have 2 drawers that no matter what I do, will not stay shut, even when empty. I think Montana needs to work a little harder in getting better latches for doors in the future.

[Montana_1892]

Hi,
totally agree with gloriad, keystone needs to improve on draw latches, we currently are doing what Jetson suggested.
another thing that Keystone could do at the factory is to clean up the mess from construction. when i opened up ceiling vents to replace them with fantastic fans, i found so much saw dust and contruction debry that i launched a total clean up campaign.
but in Keystone's defence, i found the same thing in two of my other fifth wheels and a motor home when i purchased them. it may be an industry wide problem.
any one else, or am i just fussy
grey ghost

[Northstar]

Thanks for the great posting. Good ideas for securing door latches. Happyrving...

[Treecounter]

We removed the drawer form the door on the garbage compartment added another drawer. Put hinges on the door and gained more storage. We use a 4 gal. garbage can with a foot peddle to open. This stopped the opening. Treecounter

[edwardsb]

[quote]Originally posted by Treecounter

We removed the drawer form the door on the garbage compartment added another drawer. Put hinges on the door and gained more storage. We use a 4 gal. garbage can with a foot peddle to open. This stopped the opening. Treecounter.

I did the same, but replaced the 16" drawer with 2 20" drawers which allows for extra storage of appliances and canned goods, etc.

[PatnRich]

I too had this problem. I solved it by moving the roller catch forward, (located on the face frame of the cabinet,) this way it grabs more of the stud, (located on the drawer)

Rich

2955
GMC 2500HD EC SB D/A
16k Pullrite superglide

[Parrothead]

The Montana that is coming in exactly 8 days (but who is counting) will be our third fiver. Drawers opening have always been a problem. We use dowel rods down a row of drawers and velco strips (the kind you keep cords rolled up with) on the others. We lost all of our dishes with the 2nd unit that had a much greater problem. (Corelware does break.) We visited with some RVer's once that had solved the problem by installing toddler latches. But I think that is a pain when you are not traveling.

[Coro from Maryland]

We use dowles and bungie coards too.

Recently I added a desk and bought various clips at the hardware store. None was stong enough.

Then I found a 6-pack of closures like those that Jetson described at a Camping World. It had a metal U-shaped catch and 2 nylon barrells. Much stronger pull. (I had to add a bigger draw handel for Mary to open them.

[D and M On The Road]

Thanks Jetson for the ideas. We've never had any problems with our latches but I think I should go buy some extras and carry them with us because since I just said ours were all fine, you know of couple of them are going spill open now.